One of these doesn’t things doesn’t belong with the others. Can you tell which one? Ah, remember that little game from Sesame Street?
As we were roughing it at the beach in February (ha, I love Florida!), I saw this “members only” sign leading up to a beach club (the beach is open to everyone, but access isn’t always free).
Is the term “member” in the church all that helpful or does it makes some people feel like a privileged few while other people like outsiders who can’t get access to the free fun, beauty, and joy? What if churches didn’t have “members”, but had “partners”- anyone who wanted to invest themselves in seeing a mission and vision become a reality?
Is this just semantics? Do words, terms, and language matter? What do you think of when you hear the term “church member”? How do your friends who don’t “belong” to a church feel?
I think it is an excercise in semantics. The church seems to be doing alot of that lately. Trading terms doesn’t change the function of a position. A church member, it seems to me, is someone who has totally invested themselves in the vision and ministry of a local churuch. The term partner doesn’t seem as strong. Whatever a church calls its “partners” accountablility must be the goal. It is something to think about though. The church tends to use archaic terms at times that modern folks just can’t grasp. Good post.
Waddey:
I’d love to hear more about accountability being the goal. Accountability for who? The church member/partner? Or the church staff?
I think I belong to a generation that has lost sight of the point of becoming a church “member.” If I’m an average joe attending church, what would motivate me to become a member? Why is being a member better or more important than just attending? These are honest questions, btw. I’m looking for answers.
When I looked up the definitions for these two words and applied them to what I want to be at my church without a doubt I want to be a partner not a member. Member sounds so easy(an individual belonging to a group such as a society or team). Partner is a person who takes part in an undertaking with another or others … with shared risk and profits. People who are willing to share the risk are naturally going to be more accountable and hold others more accountable.
I am not on church staff but if I were I truly believe I would much rather have partners than members.
When someone sees life change whether in themselves, their spouse, child or friend that’s when they start seeing the reasons for being a partner not just an attender.